Your journey on the timeless path will not be the same as mine.
We are all unique individuals and our walk with the Lord will be unique and personal because that’s the way God created us.
Our training will be different.
Our responses will be different.
Our relationship with the Lord will be different.
There is only one path but all will see and experience it differently.
This is a good thing.
It means when the Lord speaks to us, he will do so in a way that we understand. We will look at this more deeply as we continue our journey.
It also means the Lord is preparing us to enter the Kingdom of God.
But let’s back the truck up a bit and start at the beginning.
In order to walk on The Timeless Path it’s important that we know who God is.
Let’s start with – God is Love (John 3:16)
Jesus loves me this I know, for the bible tells me so.
When I was a child I used to sing this wonderful hymn in Sunday school and at home. Perhaps you did too.
Remember this song. Remember how it made you feel. Remember how secure you felt knowing you were loved by the one who created you.
Remember it because as you walk on The Timeless Path you will find yourself becoming more and more like a little child. You cannot enter the kingdom any other way. (Matthew 18:3)
Not childish, child like.
Full of hope, full of wonder, full of expectation, full of joy, full of love, full of forgiveness, trusting fully in Jesus Christ, secure in the knowledge that he will always do what is best for you.
What does this love feel like?
For me God’s love was the most wonderful warm feeling I had ever experienced. I just wanted to bask in it forever. I felt so secure. So at peace.
I also recall a time when I was going through a rough patch where my faith was at an all time low, and I began to wonder if I had done something wrong and God had stopped loving me. It was a terrifying time.
One night I woke up and I heard these words in my mind.
My love for you does not depend on what you do or say, but upon myself, upon my grace, for you’ve stolen my heart away.
In an instant my doubts, fears, and anxiety faded away, and the peace that cannot be understood took over. I was safe once again in my father’s arms.
I learned a lot about God’s love that day.
It is not like our love which comes and goes according to the way we feel at any given moment. It is with us all the time, never changing, never ending, never waning. All we need to do is accept it, receive it, and bask in it.
It does not depend on us or what we do or say.
Even if we sin God’s love is there waiting to wash over us like a mighty ocean wave once we confess and repent.
Wait. Are you saying that Christians can sin?
Yes.
The apostle John tells us, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8)
To get the full context of what he is teaching us we need to look at (1 John 1:6-2:3)
(1:6) “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
(1:7) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.
(1:8) If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
(1:9) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(1:10) If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
(2:1) My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
(2:2) And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
(2:3) Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
Note: John is not writing to unbelievers, he is writing to true believers.
And he says I am writing that you do not sin, but if you do we have an advocate in Jesus Christ the righteous.
Advocate means defense attorney. Jesus is the only one who can successfully plead our case before the Father, the righteous judge.
John clearly understood the battle that rages inside us. The war between the flesh and the spirit.
Paul makes this clear in his letter to the Galatians.
For the desire of the flesh is against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, in order to keep you from doing whatever you want. (Galatians 5:17)
It’s a war we can win if we put our faith in the Lord, but do not be deceived, there may be times when you fall, and it is in these times we must run back to the Lord, confess our sins honestly, and ask for mercy.
I pray often that the Lord will never let me forget how much I need him and depend on his mercy and grace.
The Timeless Path is not always smooth sailing. Sometimes the path is paved, sometimes it transforms into a dirt path, sometimes it may take you up steep, rocky slopes.
There will be times when your faith will need to withstand a winter of discontent in order to find a renewing of your strength and love in the spring time.
Can a Christian sin?
Yes! But God will forgive us and wash us clean with the blood of Jesus, if we truly confess our sins and repent.
The apostle Paul founded many churches in Corinth, Ephasus and many other places. He taught the word boldly where ever he went. He was a powerful witness for the Lord.
But at the end of his life he says the most extraordinary thing.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15)
Paul doesn’t say, I was the chief of all sinners, he says, I AM the chief of all sinners.
How could he say that after all the good he had done?
Paul understood his place in God’s plan and fully grasped the depth and breadth of God’s mercy and grace. (1 Timothy 1:14-16)
How do we know that at the end of his life Paul saw himself as a sinner saved by grace?
God was gracious enough to give Paul a thorn in his flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment him. This was done to keep Paul from becoming conceited because of the great revelations God gave him. 2 Corinthians 12:6-8)
The Timeless Path is not always easy and there will be times when the Lord seems far away and you don’t know when you will find him again.
But hang in there. Keep moving. Keep walking, keep trusting, and you will find him again just a short ways down The Timeless Path. Everything you are going through or have been through, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly, will fade away in the light of his glory and grace.
Remember. Love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8)
Phil Basten
Minister
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!
Published by
Hi, this is a comment.
To get started with moderating, editing, and deleting comments, please visit the Comments screen in the dashboard.
Commenter avatars come from Gravatar.
Leave a Reply to A WordPress Commenter Cancel reply